I absolutely loved this story! I immediately began thinking of who all I could gift this book to. The story is simple and heartfelt, I am as in love with the giraffes as the main characters are! Beautifully written and a joy to read.

This was one of the best books I have read in quite some time. I was drawn to the history and learned a lot about what this time frame was like and about the dust bowl. I love that there was such a blend of genres in this book and that the characters are so well defined and have such unique stories. I am leaving this book feeling like I am leaving a great adventure and my friends. The ending was spectacularly written and I loved that it came full circle. This book was highly recommended by my reading pal, Melinda and it has been on my list from quite some time and I am so glad that I read this. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Interesting historical fiction. It moved a little slowly and the giraffes were truly the star of the book. I was never fully engrossed in the characters as much as I was with the giraffes. Lots of great history I just wish I had a little more from the characters. Overall a good read.

4.5 Stars

This is the story of the American Dream told from the perspective of a centenarian on his deathbed looking back on a life-shaping adventure he had as an adolescent when he drove two giraffes across the country on the back of what amounted to not much more than a pick-up truck. Honestly, for whatever reason, the title didn’t grab me on this one, and I put off reading it a lot longer than I should have because I really ended up loving this book.

Loosely based on the true events surrounding two giraffes being transported across the United States to the San Diego Zoo during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, West with Giraffes tells the story of fictional character Woody Nickel (yes, really), a boy just entering adulthood, who is running from an unspeakable something that still haunts his sleep. He manages to finagle his way into a temporary position as the driver of the giraffes, one of which has a serious injury and must cross the country before it’s too late.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a book that they can just sit with and enjoy for a little while. It’s not particularly fast-paced and the (seemingly required) love story is more the story of a first crush than a true romance, but the story is sweet, and the reader will root for the characters to succeed. Some of the conflicts are a bit unbelievable, but even the ones that were a bit out there (being chased by a circus?!) just added to the character development and allow the reader a deeper glimpse into their backstories. Overall, I highly recommend this book and

And while I really savored my time spent reading this book and was sad when it was ended, when I was finished reading, I had fun doing a slightly deeper dive on some of the true story surrounding the giraffes and Belle Benchley, director of the San Diego Zoo. If you have a chance, the San Diego Zoo publishes some of its archives on its website, and you can read more about the development of the zoo from the time of this book in real time. It will definitely add even more depth to your enjoyment of this story.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion..

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

A wonderful, heartwarming, different historical novel, this book is told as the reminiscence of the over 100 year old Woody as he is in a nursing home. He writes the story of when he was 17 during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl and ends up helping transport two giraffes from New York harbor across the country to the San Diego Zoo. Woody is a great character and this book really is a coming of age novel as much a historical novel, and the giraffes somehow felt so real and soulful they were like characters as well.

I enjoyed this so much and didn’t want to put it down, and ended it with tears running down my face as I do often do for the best books. 4.5 stars.

WOW! I loved this story a lot. I really enjoyed reading about it all. It was a heart-tugging story for sure. tThis story told the tale through the action, imagery, and emotion of life during the hardest of times. I really liked the details in the story. It really made it come to life for me. I will be recommending this book for a long time.

A beautifully written tale about two giraffes and their trek across the country with the people who care for and about them. The characters are all very colorful and come to life on the pages. It’s a story of a wonderful adventure to break up the mundaneness of life, a story of a bygone era, and the story of Woody Nickel, and most of all the story of two beautiful creatures as they travel sea to sea. I thoroughly enjoyed being transported both in time and location by the descriptive writing. A must read.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

After reading the blurb of this book, it is hard not to be curious about the content. I picked it up a while ago but only got around to reading it last week. It starts off a little slow, but once they are on the road, it was hard to set it aside before seeing them all the way through.
Our lead protagonist, Woody, is in a care home and feels like he is running out of time. This has him set words to paper before he forgets like he does the day-to-day.
The actual story unravels in 1938 when two giraffes survive a hurricane (one of them just barely) and then were transported by road, all the way to the other coast. This is an arduous task now, but in 1938 with two massive, practically delicate animals- it would have been something else entirely! Woody is almost eighteen, an orphan and nursing a profound secret in his heart. He becomes fascinated by what he sees in the giraffes' eyes as well as the idea of the west coast. Woody starts to follow them on their journey by hook or crook. How their paths converge and how he learns to trust that part of him that values animals (in contrast to what he has been told all his life) made for some fascinating reading. There were a few nail-biting situations, but since we know that the giraffes reached their destination from history, this fictional tale of their journey did not have me concerned for just their overall safety. We have a few more crucial characters, each bringing something to the tale. We do get a glimpse at the present intermittently, although those scenes are usually sad.
As anyone with the mildest curiosity would do, I did google the trip. There are fewer things available than I would have liked, which made the fact that the author included a few newspaper clippings very helpful-especially to get a feel for the time, place and possible urgency.
The writing style was descriptive and emotional in parts while continuing to provide information about the road trip. I had not heard about the 'dust' before. I lived in the central US for a little more than a year, so imagining the situation in the 30s was harsh.
I recommend it to readers of the historical fiction genre or anyone (like me) who finds the blurb attractive!
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I was really excited and grateful to receive an ARC of this book, but this one ultimately did not light a fire for me. I can see why so many other reviewers loved it. The story of giraffes traveling to America in the 1930s is fascinating, and this book includes endearing and quirky characters in a unique part of American history (the Dust Bowl era). For my part, I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been non-fiction and based on the archival materials that fueled the story (as described by the author in the afterward). I found transitions between the timelines (a future timeline and a past timeline) jerky, and parts of the story seemed unnecessarily romanticized in the writing. Readers who enjoy historical adventure stories, especially those that feature pre-WWII plot lines, will enjoy this book.

West with Giraffes is a fictionalized account of how two giraffes survived the Great Hurricane of 1938 (aboard the steamship the S.S. Robin Goodfellow), arriving in New York, and their trip across America to their destination, The San Diego Zoo. Author Lynda Rutledge stumbled upon yellowed newspaper clippings of the giraffe's journey in the archives of the zoo back in 1999, She searched for the existence of a diary or records that were perhaps kept by the zoo keeper who transported the giraffes, but, sadly, he was not a note taker. Thankfully, with time and research West with Giraffes became a story not only about the 12 day journey that brought these giraffes to the San Diego zoo, but also about life in America at the time when these giraffes arrived, and finally, about the importance of respecting every creature on planet, from the biggest ones, (like elephants and giraffes), to the smallest.
Woody is 17 yo, when he finds himself all alone, after the dustbowl storms in the Texas Panhandle in 1938. He manages to find his only other relative, Cuz, on the East Coast. But as they reunite, Cuz is killed in the Great Hurricane and Woody is alone all over again. With nowhere to turn, Woody is suddenly a witness to 2 giraffes being unloaded from the S. S. Robin Goodfellow steamship. Once Woody sets eyes on the giraffes and hears they are bound for "Californy", the land of milk and Honey, he is determined to find a way to be a part of that story. Along for the story is a determined young red headed girl, who wants to photograph the journey, hoping her pictures will land up in Life magazine.
To quote the author: "Part adventure, part historical saga and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it's too late". This is a story that will stay with me for a long, long time. I highly recommend it!
Thank you @netgalley and @lakeunionpublishing for my complimentary copy of #westwithgiraffes in return for my honest review.

This was so fascinating and such a fun read. I learned a lot about both Giraffes and traveling across the area during that timeframe. I liked the characters, loved the setting. It's a great read!

The writing drew me in from the very beginning and the story made me care about giraffes. A favorite of the year and one I'll be recommending.

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, aka Woody, is a young adult who has escaped the mid-west Dust Bowl in the 1930's, chasing that american dream. When he is on the east coast, and hears about the two Hurricane Giraffes making the trek across the country to California, he is intrigued and refuses to give up following them, no matter what the cost. You follow him from coast to coast, even coming head-first with his hometown, and the skeleton's in his closet back home.

I read this book because I was able to read it right away on Net Galley, and a friend of mine highly recommended it. I started it only a few books after Kristin Hannahs "The Four Winds" and I loved how similar the two were in the Dust Bowl references and the dream of a better life in California. You get wrapped up in the story, the giraffes, and the characters and it keeps you turning the pages. The beginning format is a little strange at first and took me a moment to understand. You read newspaper,s telegraph's, current day, and the past story from the 1930's. Once I got my handle on the story, I really enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read a book I likely wouldn't have picked up browsing through a bookstore.

West with Giraffes is a Lovely Book based on real life events, about an orphaned teenager who ends up driving two giraffes across the USA to the San Diego Zoo in 1938. It’s moving, thrilling, educational and thought-provoking, and was a welcome break from all my thrillers.

Woody Nickel has just refused to celebrate his hundredth birthday in a Veterans’ Care Home, when he decides to tell the story of the events which changed his life. Fleeing the Texas Panhandle Dustbowl after the deaths of his family, he gets caught up in a devastating hurricane on the New Jersey coast. Watching a ship limp in to harbour, he is stunned to see two giraffes which have survived and are due to be transported to their new home in San Diego. With nowhere else to go, he follows them, beginning a life-changing adventure that will see him falling in love - and becoming a man along the way.

The afterword describes how she found the accounts of the giraffes’ amazing journey in the zoo’s archives and was moved to write the book by the plight of African giraffes facing extinction in the wild. I absolutely loved the story, not knowing much about Depression-era America, and falling for lonely Stray-Dog Woody, resolute keeper & animal defender “Old Man” Riley, and their two gentle giant charges. For someone who doesn’t read Romance, I did actually like Woody’s hopeless infatuation with plucky photojournalist Red. There are exciting scenes as the mismatched team battle wicked human “Lions”, broken bridges and nature’s cruelty, and heart-warming moments as they get help along the way from unexpected sources.

The current leading review on Goodreads gives this book 1 star because the reader didn’t like the way the story is structured. Personally I think this is mean-spirited and unfair. I do agree that this could just as easily have been told in conventional third person style, although when you get to the end you understand why the author chose to tell the story like this. Yes the folksy way Old Woody speaks is grating and distracting at first, and you are pulled out of the story unnecessarily at times to read about him battling with staff in the home, but it settles very quickly and ultimately I found it added a layer of pathos to the whole book. The snippets of news reports similarly help remind us how the giraffes’s unique journey captivated a country. 4.5 rounded up for moving me nearly to tears.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake House Publishing for the ARC which allowed me to give an honest review. West with Giraffes is available now.

For me the story started off slow... but then I really enjoyed it. A coming of age story for a young boy from the dust bowl. The giraffes bring the 3 main characters together. Helping each other along the way. A charming read!

I enjoyed this one a lot. A charming and entertaining story with three very likable (main) characters, a host of entertaining and quirky side characters, and two very delightful giraffes. All wrapped up in an enjoyable historical (based on true events) setting. My only (very) small criticism, I thought the ending felt a little rushed. Overall though, this was a solid two thumbs up from yours truly!

West with Giraffes was an interesting read telling the story of a young man on an unexpected adventure driving giraffes across the U.S. It is harrowing to read about the description of hunger and desperation and for people who had nowhere to go. I was pleased that the ending was not cliched as there was an opportunity for it in the love interest but I think a more powerful story to end with unrequited love. I couldn’t put it down and would recommend this for someone who enjoys reading about adventures.

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. Quite an adventure from start to finish. West with Giraffes is based on a Women zookeeper dream to bring the giraffes to California. Amazing descriptions.